Gio Paolo Maggini

From The Strad magazine, May 2007

The work of Gio Paolo Maggini, his master Gasparo da Salò and the Brescian school of makers is celebrated next month in a major exhibition in Brescia’s Palazzo Martinengo. More than 30 instruments will be on display, including five violins, four violas, a cello and four double basses by Maggini; a violin and three violas by Gasparo; an early viola by Pellegrino di Zanetto de Micheli; and instruments by Giovanni Battista Rogeri and his son Pietro Giacomo Rogeri.

Experts speaking at the event include Charles Beare, Eric Blot, Carlo Chiesa, John Topham and John Dilworth. ‘It should be a major reassessment and celebration of Maggini and the Brescian school, which is long overdue’, said Dilworth. ‘Maggini was the first major violin maker outside Cremona. His violins get overlooked by modern soloists because they’re big, but they are very dark and powerful. They were a great influence from a tonal point of view on the later Cremonese makers, including Stradivari and ‘del Gesù’ in their late instruments. But most sought-after of all are Maggini’s violas. Brescian makers in general set the tonal benchmark for violas.’